To the guy: Hi, you're a fucking idiot.

Candlejack

Expect the Pyro of TF2 to be blamed.

Nex Antonius

@legendofmike: Wait did you burn the church down or send the tip, seems like you could be angry at either ¬_¬

Madhotdog

Uhhh....what the HELL?? Way to go, kid. Next time, provide your address and social security number.

Aethyr

haha what an idiot.

they won't find me on gamefaqs! never in a million years!

Eman311

I know some kids do some stupid stuff behind the anonymity of a computer screen, but this is just moronic. How could anyone be such an idiot?

brello

well, chalk this up to one case of an someone being an asshat, and several cases of people doing the right thing. unfortunately, that one person's uncondonable behavior will be seen as the guiding light on how gamers behave when they put the controller down. as normal, he'll be the rule and not the exception.

mike

Wow, learn to 4chan.

ServiceMaster

Wow. That was just stupid. I mean, regardless of this being involved with games or Gamefaqs at all, that was just STUPID.

Lesson: Don't burn churches and schools.

Sublesson: If you didn't learn the first lesson and burned them anyway, DON'T go bragging.

Excuse me now, I have to go get ready for the inevitable media backlash against gamers and the game industry, who will inevitably be used to remove blame from the one responsible.

TalKeaton: Totally an orange Prinny

I hope he gets tried as an adult and spends a long time behind bars.

iamnotdryad

Give this guy a lab coat, we need his MIND.

Moonshadow101

for submitting article. >_>

legendofmike

you're welcome! >:(

legendofmike

what a twat

mossberg

Honestly, what an idiot. How burning down a building, let alone a church, cool. If so, why post hard evidence.

Its like those delinquents who went on a crime spree and recorded/logged their accomplishments with a camera.

/sigh I hope the media doesnt turn this against gamers as irrate pyromaniacs

Kenoji

Come on America, there has to be more productive ways of getting attention than burning down churches, shooting up classrooms, and embezzling money...
How about making a piece of art out of dog crap, and then actually managing to sell it?

~Y

Upsilon

geez...that's just horrible, people doing stupid things just to brag about it online.

toneroni

I love how the news story says "A message online RESULTS in..." as if somehow this is GFs fault.

Also the news station takes an awful lot of credit for information that users sent to them.

It's frustrating to see people act like kids where all well behaved and sane before games/internet. There have always been fucked up kids, and the shitty thing is when you pass the blame along to someone or something else it tends to distract people from treated the kid like the criminal they are.

Dumari

As if forum-goers aren't already patronized enough...

ViewtifulJason

@Destrudo: What good would it do to call the police morons? That would just get you arrested yourself!

Of course, I'm joking. It's ironic that one of the many dumb shits who don't know that not putting a comma before the subject you're addressing changes the whole meaning of the sentence is trying to insult the intelligence of somebody else. What you want to say is "Call the police, morons."

The More You Know.

WalletMan

A church?

Unoriginal.

I'd much rather see a GTA reenactment with the kid getting out to the car at the end and doing the x-factor while yelling, "Suck it bitches!"

Ace in the Hole

LOL someone beat me to the 4chan reference. Seriously though, what an idiot. And it hasn't been cool to burn down Churches in years. I mean the KKK gave up on that crap decades ago.

xiphos

Ok, now that we've gotten how stupid the criminal is out of the way, I'd like to know what kind of idiot reports a serious crime to a GODDAMN TELEVISION STATION first? Call the police morons.

Destrudo

Lesson 1: Do not be a dumb ass and brag, obviously you moron.

Lesson 2: Do not be a moronic gamer and contact news stations ... my goodness, bad enough they are not on gaming side of things. They will sensationalize it before they have the facts.

Lesson 3: Please refer to Lesson 2 ... A LOT!

EnigmaNemesis

Quintessential GameFAQs user. Not so much for the burning, but for the traceable bragging.

Kids like this should, for the betterment of society, be 'youth'anized ASAP. He's NOT going to 'turn it around'. He's not just 'deeply troubled' and in need of good counseling. He's a future high-maintenance dipshit who at best will be held at bay by meds and drift from bullshit job to bullshit job, living with only his reptilian pet, at worst Kane AND Lynch all mashed-up into one convenient timebomb.

jollydwarf

Looks like someone became an hero

animemecha

The reference to Jack Thompson made me laugh. Why are we so worried about some moron giving gamers a bad name when a) Laywers are already suspect for categorical behavior and b) Jack Thompson is just another spine on the same sea urchin as Tom Cruise and Scientology?

Look at how f*cking crazy he was about Janet Reno before he even new what gaming was.

Thank you Wikipedia: [en.wikipedia.org]

Campaign against Janet Reno
...Thompson gave Reno a letter at a campaign event requesting that she check a box to indicate whether she was homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Thompson said that Reno then put her hand on his shoulder and responded, "I'm only interested in virile men. That's why I'm not attracted to you."

...He filed a police report accusing her of battery for touching him. In response, Reno asked Florida governor Bob Martinez to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate...

...The special prosecutor rejected the charge, concluding that it was "a political ploy." ...

In 1990, after his election loss, Thompson began a campaign against the efforts of Switchboard of Miami, a social services group of which Reno was a board member. Thompson charged that the group placed "homosexual-education tapes" in public schools. Switchboard responded by getting the Florida Supreme Court to order that he submit to a psychiatric examination. Thompson did so and passed, and since then has stated on more than one occasion that he is "the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida."[13]

FlyingSquirrel

Also hope the thread ended with "brb jail" or something to that effect.

Dudemeister

Wow, either the kid was doing copious amounts of drugs or he wanted attention something fierce.

Dudemeister

LOL give this kid the dumbass of the year award right now. You can't top that, you torch a church and BRAG? What makes you think you won't get caught, especially when you post pictures of you DOING IT??? It's people like this that I just wonder what happened to them to f*ck them up that bad where they burn a building down and don't care. Total disbelief, but I'm glad he was stupid enough to get caught. Throw the book at him, send him away for a long long time, get him out of society's hair.

Fenix6372

@surft: "asking total strangers like that for real world advice on something my four year old cousin knows is wrong and he can be punished for".. often is easier to ask a total stranger than some people you already know. Maybe this guy has zero friends.

tei

flamming in GameFAQ = ban
flamming in church = IRL jailtime

tei

The kid must have really craving for attention to brag on Gamefaqs and even asking advice on what he should do. Must have a terrible social life, asking total strangers like that for real world advice on something my four year old cousin knows is wrong and he can be punished for.

@adragonfang18:
I agree, where are the parents?

surft

I think the whole "church with a school" aspect, as well as just "bat-shit-stupid" come into play far more than video games in this case. Religious schooling does crazy things to some people, although I do thank it for trampy Catholic schoolgirls.

AlKusanagi

@Father-Time: Still, the fact is, the kid posted it on a video game related post. If they do any investigation that uncovers this dumb bastard is a gamer (and I use that term sparingly when referring to stupid assholes that ruin the reputation for the rest of us) then they're going to find a way to associate video games with his inability to make rational judgments in the real world.
Say this kid plays Grand Theft Auto, which gets enough flak as is because it's meant to have an adult player and kids and teenagers keep getting their parents to get them the games. Although this point is mooted just for today - I witnessed a grandmother buying games in Game Crazy for her son, who picked out San Andreas for the PS2 and put it back when the clerk told her it was rated Mature for extreme violence, killing, adult themes, drugs, drinking, sex and general debauchery.
But yeah, if this kid plays Grand Theft Auto or something then the gaming community will doubtlessly catch more shit for 'corrupting a youth'.

Fortunately, though, since the majority of the gaming community knows what we're talking about and has an educated response to the accusations posed at video games, I doubt any real action will be taken. People will probably blame games, but we all know that's nothing new, and we know how to defend the genre (hopefully.)

For the media to do anything, there'll have to be a game that specifically states "Put down the controller, pick up a baseball bat, and get angry," or have some sort of subliminal messaging or something. And since publishers are smart enough not to break the fourth wall unless it's funny, it's not going to happen.

But if it does, I'll probably blame EA.

Eienhander

Least he didn't kill someone like some retards who show up in these kotaku gamer crimes.

So how do you guys pronounce gamefaqs?

"Gamefaks?" like these newscasters or my choice "Game F. A. Q.s"

The Amazing Exploding-Man

The kid just needs Jesus, that's all...

weeoo

I think Chris Rock said it best...

"What the fuck ever happened to CRAZY"

Thanks a lot asshole.

Lain

Someone get a rope...

Ixero

/facepalm

Why?! Of all the online forums to post such lame-ass shit, you have to pick a game-related one. I swear, Jack Thompson or Faux News is going to rape this -.-

MasterSaji

@Kenoji: I think this goes way, way, way beyond idiocy.

hikkifan1986

@Father-Time: Then you have more faith in humanity than I. But here's for hoping.

jacksinn

I HIGHLY doubt that people will blame games on this. First off we don't know what kind of games he plays (if any), second off from the news report, it doesn't look like anyone really encouraged him to do it. This is just some lone idiot nothing more.

Father-Time

@legendofmike: Hahaha, good save on that, I thought you meant "You're welcome (for burning down the Church.)"

I was like "WHAT!?" but then I saw your second post. Hahaha!

bobtheduck

I'd slap this kid in the face if I could - what a fucking idiot. It's not so much what he actually did but to brag about it/post pictures ... WTF??? lol, seriously - what a tool.

iToke

@waterhand: Creepily enough, that whole (multi-state) area just got hit by A LOT of tornadoes.

(Plz note that I mean no offense to the great loss of life in that region.)

tcolberg

GameFAQs has a forum?

Being mean, evil, and irreconcilably dumb is no way to go through life, son. Smart enough to use the internet to upload pictures but not smart enough to have read enough Fark headlines to see that people get caught like this all the time? What the hell, man.

tk.

@SSJPabs: I also like GameFAQs, as it's often the only place to find forums about older games. I'm simply surprised that there were enough upstanding people on GameFAQs to report him.

tcolberg

WOW Finally a REAL internet tough guy :P

Dark-Dx

Asshole.

Sorry, I usually elaborate, but... Asshole.

All About Lily Chou-Chou

@KM91: Not smart buddy.

Witzbold

I think I remember that username. See how good people like me get banned from there while this kid goes free?? What kind of a piece of shit would burn down a church?

Oh, the kind of retard who would brag about the crime online. I see.

WalletMan

Was anybody hurt? Nobody has mentioned that yet. I personally don't care about the buildings (after spending most of my life in the mid west, I find it hard to care when a Baptist church gets burned down), but I would still be sad if anybody got hurt.

gamadaya

@Green-clad Gamer Dude: Slicing open live dolphins and feasting upon their entrails is inhuman.

Burning down buildings is just stupid.

Yeux de nouilles

Oh LAWD, I can see it now, fox news getting wind of this!

"Teenage video gamer arrested for burning down a church, experts say that gamers played a major role in history when they killed Jesus. Beelzebub666, an avid gamefaq forum member is here to join us today for a commentary from the Video gamer prespective..."

Faux "Mr. Beelzebub666, can you introduce yourself to our audience?"
Beelzebub666: "Ello, can you hear me? oh yea, sure! I am Lucifer the lord of darkness and continuing with my long term plan to destroy us all and condemn us to hell, I am now a member of the video gaming community at it's prime preparing for the moment I deceive you all into submitting to the darkness and bring the wrath of the heavens upon you. My plan is almost coming to fruit with the Wii dominating the marketplace and Super Smash Bros Brawl international launch dates approaching this year 2008. I expect a surge in my recruits and I advise you to keep a look out to the day Duke Nukem Forever will go gold. According to the my Intelligence reports it narrows the release date to December 2012... Well thats all.. any other questions?"

Faux: Fascinating, So video gamers are murder simulation orgy at interactive form!! Why isn't our government protecting us from them?? They are the reason why America is in a bad mess right now! They devalued the Dollars, had a major role in 9/11 tragedy, are killing Civilians and American Troopers in I-Rak and clearly have a connection to I-ran planned nuclear Holocaust.

Beelzebub666: "Bill, actually, I was just messing with you, that kid is just retarded and has no place in my plans. All what you said was actually the fruit of American foreign policies in the last decade..."

Bill O'riely: "Cut his mic.."

Beelzebub666: "Lead by members of both Republicans and Democrats in the last centu.." (Satan seen waving a Ron Paul banner after realizing he was cut off and still on screen.)

Plsk1n

I prefer NGG. It has more topical discussion than Current Events, even if NGG has more than its fair share of fanboys. At least they constant bickering make it one of the more lively boards on GameFAQs.

As far as this kid goes, for every hundred sane people in every community, theres a couple of nuts.

FinalFrog

The news cast was very tactful, didn't play up the video game angle more than was absolutely necessary. Hopefully the national media will take the local media's lead and be tasteful.

RawSteelUT

well..being that Current Events is my most visited webpage

Im proud to say i read that topic >___>

CVV1

Kvlt.

hero imprisoned

He must have never played the original Sim City. Bad things happen when you destroy Churches.

waterhand

Psycho!

I'm glad someone on the forum did something about it. Now I just hope they missplace the key to his cell.

Irenicus-the one and only

HaHa I agree, why would someone even do that. I'm sure we are going to hear some flakk about this on the news.

everyday_atrocity

@Raynre: Yea, HIM really sucks.

Winterbringer

I think they should set HIM on fire.

Then brag about it on gamefaqs.

Raynre

i remember some guy getting caught on 4chan a while back for doing something stupid...he was anon but they still were able to figure out all of his details...then again 4chan users are the kinds of people that can find out anything about anyone with just one slip up....

Nissan288

Games are going to take the fall for this once Fox gets hold of the news.

SolInvictus

@BassForever: Um, just because you don't register an account on 4chan doesn't mean you can't be tracked.

dip

A disgrace to Star Wars fans and Gamefaqsers!

Some people are just to stupid to be allowed to use the internets.

Wookiee1

That was not smart. Neither the posting nor the arson itself.

This kid needed an ArsonSim game to satisfy his urge to burn stuff.

HighlanderWolf

Something interesting on GameFaqs? I stopped posting there because it's just crammed with all kinds of idiots and all the social boards have really sad little friend groups you have to be either an old member with a funny name or a girl with breasts to be part of.

Winterbringer

Ah, so that's why they call it GameFags.

KM91

GameFAQs' Current Events is a poison board, full of angsty teenage antics. Maybe I'm just getting old, but that place is just a creepy cesspool of pervs. I think that it's time that board went the way of LUE.

Dragon_Warrior

Crimes like this are usually never solved unless some bragging is involved. A few years back in my hometown Some kids decided to bust some headstones in a graveyard, some dating back to the civil war. They only got busted because they bragged about it in school.

Armagetiton

What an ass, I never brag about my crimes online.

I mean, uh, what? >.>

Eliwood

Wow, with sites like 4chan where you can post your stupid actions as a nobody posting on a site like Gamefaqs where you can be traced easily is just idiotic.

BassForever

i blame videogames.

cooler_dood

stupid fuck.

manjikengo

Insurance companies actually hate churches, since they're such a big liability. Nearly always open, nearly nonexistent security, and there's not always someone guaranteed to be there. Combine that with almost any older church having no sprinkler system or fire alarms, a ton of flammable objects, candles all over the place: it's a gold mine for an arsonist.

scottyboy218

Giving evidence tying yourself to a crime freely on the internet is stupid enough, but why, of all places, do it on the GameFAQs forums? All that does is make gamers look bad, and give idiots like Jack Thompson more ammo. In fact, I bet we'll hear from him soon on this, and I'm willing to bet money Thompson will somehow connect it to violent games...

In fact, someone should check his GFAQs profile page. I'll bet he has GTA or something along those lines in his owned games list.

Pitiful, really, how so few idiots cause so many problems for so many people.

Makoto0729

@brello: Well, people who do these kinds of things are a little low on brain cells in the first place. I think we can be thankful that most criminals are borderline retarded.

dip

Great, another nutjob gamer for Thompsonites to sink their teeth into.

CaptainHarrison

God, there are a lot of stupid people out there. I'm torn between feeling sorry for him and wanting to shoot him between the eyes.

@ServiceMaster: That didn't help the guy who threatened to blow up the football stadium or those pedophiles that Anon reported.

dip

@ryohazuki: He has fallen to the dark side of the force.

Lightguy

Remember kids, nobody likes a snitch.

cybereality

I'd argue this has less to do with games than with internet message boards.

So, did Gamefaqs have some obligation to do something after the first post? Or would they if and only if there was a more explicit threat made?

It's really sad, honestly.

themunk

If you commit a crime like that don't brag about it. I think he wanted to get caught to be honest.

chiefpoopingpants

i read gamefaqs for the guides, never bothered with the forum aspect of it.
"HEY DEWDZ CHEQ IT AWT I BURNEDT A CHURCH DOWN N A SKEWL TOO! SKEWL SUCKZ LOLOL! HEY WHO WANTS TO PLAY HALO NOWZ!? I WILL PWNT U"

i asumme that was the post, correct?

pandafresh

I blame Cnet and their for sale review scores!

KaneRobot

@HykCraft:

451

ArmyofJuan

What a moron.

argh

probably a GameSpot account.

GiantEnemyCrab

As one of the few people in gamedom who actually LIKES Gamefaqs, let me just congratulate the posters who turned him in. When a guy comes on, gives details like that and pictures that's a huge red flag that he's serious and you should turn that f*cker in.

SSJPabs

FlameFAQs indeed.

ShaggE

Do or do not, there is no ask on gamefaqs and then post the results on gamefaqs.

superbabyproject

It's perfectly safe to alert the people on the internet of some illegal crime, it isn't like there's going to be some sort of authority figure or any other person who might alert authorities on the INTERNET right?

gamer4250

It's too bad you have to die to be eligible for a
Darwin Award. How fuckin' stupid do you have to be to film yourself committing a crime, post it on the internet, and BRAG about it? I'm sure the little shit will plead insanity.

The funny thing is, all the people I was trying to impress on the internet are now laughing at him. What a moron. I wish he had internet access in his cell so he could see how much he's being mocked.

Mr.Waffleton

wow cool

like if i would be saying, right now, that i have plans to kill 6 million jews

... wich, if course, i do not, well, i mean, no ... i ...

Waza

Nothing is to blame, except for that dumbass kid.

Pancho_Villasan

This is the fault of video games, obviously.
Posting it on a video game forum must mean he is playing a game, which must mean his actions are controlled by this game.
When is America going to wake up and realize that nobody did anything bad until video games came along?

/sarcasm off

GHamilton

@adragonfang18: no i blame the dad for not pulling out!. He should have gotten a bj!

look-up-in-the-sky-its-baby-jesus

@Apollo: Aw man... don't I look like an idiot now...
Well, even more reason for me to be expelled from society.

gramblor

Religion, video games, the media, teenaged angst, and Star Wars all in one...

Hope this doesn't start a...
FLAME WAR!!!

Cough cough... please don't ban me!

gramblor

As a religious person would put it for Jediknight12345, "He wont like fire in hell".

Blanku

Teenagers... When will they learn? I think it took me till age 20 to realize that doing stupid things was, how do I put this, stupid.

jhiaxus

@ryohazuki: Hahaha :)

Aethyr

Obviously the school deserved to be burned down... since it so clearly failed him.

pluckylump

I grew up not far from there. Can't say I'm surprised, arson is a pretty popular hobby in that area.

PhantomVI

burning down buildings is one thing. At least they were empty. What kinda of imbecile not only takes picture of it himself doing it and then posts it online? Seriously you have to have special kind of dumbs to do that.

Wolfkin

@Ethyn: epically

A.K.O.D.

This comes as no surprise since he is from gamefaqs forums... JK.

I can understand that people don't like religion, Im OK with that, but arson? Are you Kidding me? What if there was someone inside that church?

This is the kind of behavior that should be severely be punished by the authorities, heres hoping that idiot won't make it out in a few years. And that he went to the institution with the most slippery floors in the bathroom.

A.K.O.D.

YES!
This kid got owned by justice.
No, even better.
This kid got fucked in the ass by justice.

AnPirate

I knew there was something wrong with that site.

That and their undying love of Nintendo.

Gonzodamus

Wow, what an idiot.

JoBo

@Fyren: His parents failed.

Ethyn

"According to recent reports, the arrested suspect was a member of the church and its attached school."
And no one's wondering what would make the guy hate the place so much he would want to burn it down? Maybe I'm just too cynical...

Omega Xi

Burning down churches isn't something a Jedi would do.

ryohazuki

NARCS!

Lixie

This just brings new meaning to flame wars on GameFaqs.

Oh god, that was horrible.

Apollo

How F*ked up could a kid be to do that!?!?!

parents should be able to discipline their child.
If they cant, sew the woman's vagina shut NOW!

adragonfang18

This is why society has failed the youth.

Fyren

Every time I come across a chat thread on GameFAQs, I'm reminded why I don't look at chat threads on GameFAQs.

Brackynews

@ArmyofJuan: How many arson fires have you set?

HykCraft

What dumb ass would brag about burning down a church on GAMEFAQ? Of all places.

Sailorcancer

@Nex Antonius: Or Fire Flower Mario.
Or Charizard. Or Capt. Falcon.

ServiceMaster

See the thing i hate about this is that i makes real arsonists look bad. Here they are carefully planning their next fire frenzy, when this stupid boy shows up ruining all of it for everyone

ArmyofJuan

jeez, dumbass much?

ruba-dub-dub

Yay,
cant wait for the "All Gamers are pyromaniacs at heart", or "How games make you want to burn things" headlines.

neojam

The method by which he was found is meaningless. I couldn't care less that he was stupid enough to brag about it. Burning down a church and a school? That's just inhuman. He deserves to be tried as an adult.

Green-clad Gamer Dude

That kid is a fuckin' idiot. I remember seeing this post on GameFaqs too.

"Oh.. if I post on the internet.. no one will find me! BWHAHAHA!"

lol

HykCraft

and the worst thing is, I frequent gameFAQs forums :P

Rickster